Discussion Report, Group __________________ Reporter:__________________________

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1. Is this a book about the problem of being a girl in a boys' and man's world, or about  an "ugly duckling" story, with "being a Sawyer" the equivalent of "being a duck."  Clearly the Randalls are not all swans; only Rebecca is.  What qualities about her are unlike the Sawyers and the other "ducks" in the town but, to the author's and reader's eye, desirable, not just weird?   If Mr. Ladd were a very old man (or woman), could this same plot be used with a boy as hero?  What aspects of Rebecca's difficulties have to do with her gender, if any, and what aspects, if any, with other features of her situation: her poverty, her "swanness," her aunts' limited experience, etc..

2.  Why is the title "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" and not "Rebecca of Randalls Farm" or "Rebecca of Riverboro"?  Rebecca grows older and moves around.  Does she grow and learn and change, or do her different ages and situations simply reveal different aspects of character and personality that she had from the beginning?  BE SPECIFIC and look for the evidence on both sides of the question.  Compare the other people who grow older, and the other people who change--for instance, Hannah does both.

3. This book is "polyvocal," that is, the narrator includes documents that are supposedly written by other people, and she also includes many direct quotations from characters she does not agree with.  Discuss what we learn about Rebecca from the writings and statements of other people, including Rebecca herself, rather than from the statements of the narrator.

4. This story includes not only scenes and quick summaries to connect them, but also a great deal of description of people, places, and things.  Look at some of the descriptions, particularly of Rebecca, and decide what the relationship of the narrator in this book is to the story?  Is this grown-up Rebecca telling her own story in disguise?  Or perhaps one of Rebecca's former teachers?  Could it be Aunt Jane or Mr. Ladd, Emma Jane or one of the other girls?  Clearly the narrator feels empathy and affection for Rebecca; how does she persuade us to share those feelings?

5. There is quite a bit about teaching in this book.  Aunt Jane teaches Rebecca to sew, Aunt Matilda teaches her to be a Sawyer, Miss Dearborn teaches her in the Riverboro school, Miss Maxwell at Waltham.  She also learns quite a lot in the "school of hard knocks."  Does the analysis of teaching show the effects of Wiggin's own career as an educator?  (Compare the other accounts of good and bad teaching we have encountered this semester.)

6. The story of Aladdin is the story in which a boy finds a wonderful lamp, which gives him control of a genie who can effect nearly any extraordinary transformation that the boy requests.  Rebecca is no Aladdin, but she feels as if she has encountered one.  How do lamps, light, and "magical" transformations affect the book?  Is "light" related to knowledge/education/experience, to imagination, to appreciative love?